The Mavic Huez shoe leads the pack in what is quite a new style of product. The lightweight climbing shoe is as the name would suggest exceptionally light, retaining all the best qualities of the more traditional style of cycling shoe. The most obvious difference is the straps; rather than a ratchet the Huez uses three Velcro fasteners. The foot is still held down nicely thanks to the inflexible carbon woven into the upper midfoot and straps, which when coupled with Mavic’s trademark ‘Energy lock carbon’ which cups the heel and ensures a firm hold within the shoe and excellent power transfer. Overall this simply means that a great deal of weight is saved with the omission of a plastic buckle with no real downsides. The softer straps also mean that less padding is necessary on the tongue which is as such this is extremely thin and ventilated for heat dissipation. This is similar to the rest of the upper which is a mixture of supple microtex and an extremely lightweight and inflexible mesh which adds hardly any weight and exceptional ventilation. Moving to the underside of the shoe the carbon sole is just 5.5mm thick which apart from furthering the feathery weight allows for a very low stack height so there is minimal rock on the pedals.

Overall if you want a superbly light and minimalist shoe then the Mavic Huez is a great choice, perfect for climbing in the hot sun it will aid you no end in your quest to become ‘King of the Mountains’